Filing system



sept. 16, 1924. 1,508,868

' R. J. WOOD FILING SYSTEM Filed Feb. '7. 1921 ATTORNEY.

atented Sept. i6, 1924.

RODNEY J'. WOOD,

0F DAYTON, OHIO.

FILING SYSTEM.

Application filed February 7, 1921. Serial No. 443,210.

To all lwhom, if may concern."

Be it known that l, Romney J. WOOD, a citizen of the United States,.residing at Dayton. in the, county of Montgomery and State of Ohio,have, 'invented certain new and useful Improvements in Filing Systems,ol' which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to card index filing systems wherein data cards orsheets are arranged in predetermined groups classified alphabetically,numericallyY or according to other arbitraryy distinctions.

The object of the invention is to simplify such systems whereby theywill not only be inexpensive, but will be more efficient in use,compact, permitting a great number of data sheets or cards to bearranged in mimimum space, yet readily accessible to enable theselection of a desired card or sheet with minimum movement` A. furtherbut none the less important object of the invention is to afford avisible file system, wherein an entire group or subdivision of the cardsor data sheet-s may be simultaneously visible to facilitate the rapidityof selection of a desired card.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a system whereinthe cards are readily accessible and capable of beingveasily and quicklyremoved and replaced for the purpose of making entries thereon.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved form of datasheet or card holder or support, by which the cards or sheets may bedetachably supported in overlapping relation to simultaneously exposeguide or reference entries on the overlapping portion of the sheet orcard.

lilith the above primary and other 1ncidcntal objects in view as willmore fully appear' in the specification, the invention consists of thefeatures of construction, the parts and combinations thereof, and themode of operation or their equivalents as hereinafter described and setforth in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. l is a perspective view of a portion ofa. card tile embodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is ay perspectiveview of one of the'holders or supports for a group of overlappmg'data orreference sheets. Fig. 3 is a side elevation ot' a holder or supportshowing a number of sheets or cards positioned thereon. Fis'. i is adetail vieu7 illustrating the adaption of the invention to analphabetical or name index.

Like parts are indica-ted by similar characters of reference tbruout theseveral views.

The present invention'is applicable to card index filing systems forvarious purposes, such as card index records of customers, agents,subscribers or other lists of names, which may be arrangedalphabetically:` or divided into groups according to occupation,residence, location character, type, or other classification, or it :maybe employed for stock records, wherein records of different material areto be grouped according -to sizes, quantities or purposes. For purposeof illustration, the card index filing system forming the Subject matterhereof has been illustrated in Fig. il ot the drawings, as a numericaltile wherein thecards or data sheets are grouped according toconsecutive numbers. ln this particular instance, for purpose ofillustration, each data sheet or card holder or support is adapted tocontain a group of one hundred cards or sheets, arranged in subdivisionsof ten sheets or cards each. The arrangement beingF such that the entiregroup oi one hundred cards or sheets are simultaneously displayed.

Referring to the drawings, 1+i represents a series of data sheet holdersor supports arranged one behind the other in a continuous succession.Each of these holders or supports l has formed therein a plurality ofintegral tongues 2, which are formed from the body ot' ythe holder orsupport 'by an inverted lil-shaped incision. The tongue 'of material 2thus formed is flexed outwardly to a position oblique or inclined to theplane of the holder or support 1. These tongues are arranged in verticalspaced relation. While the tongues may extend a considerable distanceacross the holder or support, whereby one such tongue might be employedfor each subdivision of the card group, they have been shown in thedrawings as arranged in pairs with the respective members of each pairalined transversely upon a holder or support.. To prevent undueweakening of the holder or support, the vertical succession of tongues 2are staggered or odset in 'relation one with another, the succession ofspaces or steps, however, being maintained. 'lhese tongues 2 form ledeesor projections upon which are positioned the successive reference ordata cards or sheets Each pair ot' alined tongues or ledges 2 may carryone or nio-re data or reference cards 3, according to thel character.size and purpose of the tile. lt' a single card or sheet is supportedupon each pair ot tongues or ledges 2. the reference or data sheet beingot equal size. they will present stepped or overlapping upper inarginsas shown in Fig: Al. lu Fig. f-i there is illustrated a naine index iuwhich the main supportor holder l bears the guide designation lli/1 i',While the several cards shown in overlappi ig position, carry upon theire21- posed margin diti'erent names beguuung `tvith the letters Pirellias Baker, Baltlow, Bakunin. Bal-zus, ctc.

lin the if'orin of index illustrated in Fig. 1

the rete ence or data sheets have cut-outs or 'tabs of di'erent lengths.lhese tabbed cards are arranged in sets wherein the tabs or cut-outportions progressively overlap in a lateral direction. ln' thisinstance, ten of the cards or data sheets are shown in each of theseoverlapping tabbed sets. rlhere is a set oil ten or such cards supportedupon each pair of alined tongues or ledges 2, whereby the diil'erentsets or sub-divisions of cards or .data sheets overlap vertically,'While the cards or sheets comprising each set or subdivision overlaplaterally. exposed tab portion olf each data sheet of the group isvisible, simultaneously. ln this instance there being ten sets orsub-divisions of tencards each, one hundred cards or reference sheetsWill be accommodated by each holder or support. The holders or supportsl being numbered in units of one hundred as for instance 2400, 2500,2600, etc.. the individual cards of the group carried by such supportwill bear the suecessivenumbers beginning: with the even hundred borneby the vsupp-ort or carrier to and including 99 plus -the hundredrepresented by the support. The group shown in Fig. l itt" complete,would embody cards or data sheets numbering from f2-i0() to :7.499inclusive. These numericaldesignations appear upon the exposed por on ofthe overlapping tabs, and hence all oil" the numbers are in Viewsimultaneously. rillicse numbers appear in vertical and horizontalseries. 'lhat is to say, they appear in tens horizonelly Whilevertically :all numbers terminating in O, l, 2, 3, 4, etc., vi/ill befound one above the other. lt thus becomes a very easy and convenientoperation 'to locate at approximately 'the center ot the group, being inthe fifth row vertically end the siicth row horizontally', wherein everynumber terminates in 5. lt is an matter to insert a small knife blade orspatula, or some pointed selecting Lacasse implement behind the desiredtab, and tip the cards or data sheet belovi7 the desired numberforwardly.

The supporting ledges'ortongues 2 being quite lex1ble will readilyaccommodate themselves to a few or many inserted cards or sheets 3'.When assembled in ay file coutainer, the tongues or ledges will foldsubstantially to parallelism or as nearly so as is permitted by theinserted cards or sheets. The relation of the cards or sheets and thesupport is clearly shown in Fig. 3.

The tile n'iay be used not only as a record or directory i'ile7 but itmay be utilized as a tile for time sheets, sales tickets. or records ofother character which may be inserted behind the sheets or cards 3,whether the same be a nainev or directory card as shown in Fig. l ornumerical cards as shown in Fig. 1. ln the latter instance the numbersmay represent orders, employees, stations. or' may be utilized in anymanner whatsoever, and any memoranda or data 'pertaining thereto may bedeposited behind suoli records or reference sheets 3. rlhe tongues orilaps 2 being flexible Will accommodate such,y

deposits ol considerable size.

To stillen and strengthen the support or carrier 1 'these carriers,Which are preferably of card board. tag board or other tough butflexible material., have been shown provided with a marginal. binding or'frame Ll, of sheet metal. Other methods of stillening thesesupports orcarriers may be utilized.

In the use of inserted data sheets, Where-- in a number of removablesheets are positioned behind each card, a very thin or light Weightpaper is employed. Due to the overlapping arrangement of the cards andsheets, the space occupied thereby is materially reduced. in practice,one hundred such sheets carried by a single support, occupy less than ahalf inch of space. 'lhe sheets and cards are selected by insertingbehind the overlying cards and sheets a thin-bladed selecting implement,knii'e blade or spatula.. l

Having thus described my invention, l claim: y

1. A card index embodying a plurality of independent data sheets, asupport card common to a plurality olf such data sheets' and a.plurality of spaced tongues carried by the support card and projectingfrom. the tace thereol upon which the data. sheets loosely rest inoverlapping relation for to and iro oscillatory movement independent ofthe support.

2. A card index embodying a. plurality oi' independent data. sheetsarranged in groups, each group having progressively otiset tab portions,a support card common to a plurality of groups of such data sheets, andmeans for detachably engaging the groups of data. sheets with thesupport card in overlapping relation whereby the offset tabporindependent datasheets,

tion of each group will be exposed beyond those of the succeeding group.

3. A card index embodying a plurality of a support card common to aplurality of such data sheets adapted for fore and aft oscillatorymove-4 ment, and a series of flexible spaced projec s tions upon thesupport card at different elevations upon which different datasheetsloosely rest for free oscillatory movement independent of the supportcard, said sheets being rearwardly adjustable substantially toparallelism with `each other and With the support card upon rearwardoscillation of the support' card, the sheets being capable of forwardoscillation independentL of the support card and about their points ofrests upon said projections to enable the exposure of the face of aselected sheet without the necessity of removing any `of the sheets fromthe support card.

4. A card index embodying a plurality of independent data sheets, asupport card common to a plurality of such data sheets, a

-plurality of hinged tongues each formed by an incision in the body ofthe support card, the material forming such tongues being flexedlaterally beyond the face of the support card and capable of oscillatorymovement to and from the plane of the support card to form rests fordiiierent data sheets, the sheets being mounted for to and frooscillatory mbvement to and from the support by which any selected sheetmay be exposed by tilting forwardly in unison those sheets in advance ofthe selected sheet and for returning them to parallelism with theremaining sheets preparatory to the next selective operation.

5. A card index embodying a plurality of independent data sheets, asupport card common to a plurality of such data sheets, a plurality ofyielding integral tongues cut from the body of the support card andflexed laterally to aii'ord rests for the sheets, -said tongues beingoppositely disposed in pairs, each data sheet resting upon a pair oflSuch l tongues for free oscillatory movement.

6. A card index embodying a plurality of independent data sheets, asupport card common to a plurality of such data sheets, a plurality ofintegral tongues formed from the body of the support card and ilexedlaterally to afford rests for the sheets, said tongues being arranged intwo series, vthe members of the respective series being oifset instaggered relation.

7. A card index embodying a plurality of data sheets loosely arranged'ingroups, the sheets of each group having progressive/ly of each sheetsheets, the several groups of sheets being arranged in overlappingrelation whereby the overlapping tabs of each group will beexposedbeyond those of the adjacent group, thereby presenting to viewsimultaneously the tab of each sheet of the plurality and a supportcommon to all the groups having thereon a plurality of projectionsextending from the face of the support and forming rests upon which thelower edges of the data sheets rest. for oscillatory movement of thesheets to and from the support by which movement the normally concealedface of a selected sheet may beexposed without removing same from thesupport.

8. A numerical index comprising a series of one hundred sheets separatedinto ten groups of ten sheets each, the sheets ot each group havingprogressively offset tabs whereby the. tab of each sheet will be exposedbeyond that of the succeeding sheet of the group, the ten groups beingarranged in such relation that the ten tabs ot each group are exposedbeyond the tabs of the .succeeding group, whereby the tabs of the entireone hundred sheets will be simultaneously exposed and a support cardcommon to all the groups of sheets having a plurality of spaced stepsprojecting from the support card in predetermined fixed relation onwhich the various groups of sheets loosely rest l:for free oscillatorymovement.

9. A card index comprising a plurality of sheets arranged in groups, thesheets of each group being provided with overlapping tabs and theseveral groups of sheets lbeing arrangedwith their respective tabs inover lapping relation in a direction angular to the direction of theoverlapping of the tabs of the sheets comprising the groups whereby allof the tabs of all of the groups will be simultaneously exposed and asuppor t card common to all the groups of sheets having stepped supportsarranged in spaced relation upon which the sheets loosely rest.

10. A card index comprising a plurality l `of'sheets arranged in groups,the sheets of each group being provided with overlapping tabs, a supportcommon to all of the sheets of, the plurality, and a series of integraltongues projecting in spaced relation -upon a different rest at adifferent elevation 4with its overlapping tabs exposed beyond those ofother groups said leaves being capable of oscillatory movement to andfrom the support card about their points of en gagement upon said reststo expose the face of any leaf `without removing the leaves from theirrests.

12. ln a card index, a Support card, a plurality of supporting tongueshinged to the card at different elevations, independent data sheetssupported upon the tongues at different elevations whereby portions ofdifferent sheets project beyond the margins of other sheets, said sheetsand hinged sup'- porting tongues being foldable substantially toparallelism with each other and with the supporting card, the sheetsbeing capable of oscillatory movement to and from the supporting card,about their points of rest upon the supporting tongues to expose theface of a selected sheet without removing any of the sheets from thesupport.

13. In a card'index system, a plurality of data sheets resting upontheir lower ledges for oscillatory movement, a support member common toall the data sheets of said plurality, and a plurality of projectionsextend= ing from the face of the support at di'erent aeoeee spacedlevels upon which the lower edges of the di'erent data sheets restwhereby the sheets are loosely supported at dierent elevatons forvoscillatory movement to and from the support with a top marginalportion of each sheet exposed adjacent the margins of the adjoiningsheets, the sheets in advance of a selected data Sheet being adapted tobe tilted forwardly in unison independently of these sheets rearwardlyof the selected sheet to expose to view the face of the selected sheet,such tilt/ed sheets being returnable to substantial parallelismpreparatory to the next selecting operation.

ln testimony whereof, ll have hereunto set my hand this 29th. dayof-January, A. ll).

RUDNEY J. WUOD. Witnesses:

JOHN DINEEN, GEORGE C. Hermle.

